November 5-7, 1973 Odeon, Newcastle, ENG
Fifty minutes into the Newcastle gig on the 5th, during '5.15' Townshend flipped out completely when the tape synch came in fifteen seconds slow. He stepped to the side of the stage grabbed Bobby Pridden by the scruff of his neck and pulled the poor road manager bodily over the mixing desk then tossed him toward center stage. As Pridden sprawled in front of the crowd Townshend began pulling at the sound board yanking out wires demolishing rnany of the prerecorded tapes it had taken so many weeks work to piece together. The rest of the band watched in a daze. When Townshend finished wrecking the gear he stalked off the stage. The rest of the band made their apologies said they'd try to be back and followed him leaving the audience even more dumbfounded. The curtain was dropped and the audience sat in the darkness for about ten minutes until the band reappeared. The rest of the show was devoted to a set of "oldies", concluding with 'My Generation' and a vicious display of Gibson guitar demolition by Pete. He smashed his second guitar of the night and threw one of his Hiwatt amps to the ground as Keith ploughed through his drums, spilling them across the stage. They received "thunderous applause" as they left the stage. "The Who - A Ridiculous Display Of Unwarranted Violence" wrote Steve Hughes in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle (November 6): "The Who rock band lived up to its reputation for violence on stage with an expensive display of guitar and amplifier-smashing at the Odeon Cinema last night. The concert was stopped in chaos when guitarist Pete Townshend bawled out sound engineers, destroyed pre-recorded backing tapes and smashed up £100 worth of equipment during the group's presentation of its latest rock opera. It was a ridiculous display of unwarranted violence witnessed by thousands of easily-influenced teenage pop fans. Townshend, a temperamental but brilliant guitarist, is quite notorious for sudden fits of violence on stage which have almost become accepted as part of the act by his many followers. But this time stage hands rushed to disconnect electric amplifiers and Townshend's electric guitar after he swiped it into the stage floor. Tempers flared after drummer Keith Moon had trouble with headphones. He let the drumsticks fly as the sound engineers battled to fix them. Then Townshend intervened, yelling at the engineers behind control panels on the side of the stage. He ripped out backing tapes and heaved over equipment into the side curtains. The three other members of the band - lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon - just stared. The safety net was lowered to the stage but the lights stayed out. Fans sat, quietly at first in total darkness and usherettes - obviously quite frightened - frantically flashed torch lights across the audience. After 10 minutes, with absolutely no trouble from the audience, the curtain was raised and Daltrey launched the band into a medley of 'oldies'. Then he yelled four-letter words at the audience, calling them - among many other derogatory terms - bastards and tried to explain everything by singing 'My Generation', a song about the generation gap and how no one understands the younger generation. Then Townshend hurled his guitar against the upstanding microphone and smashed it into a score of pieces by banging it against the stage floor. He then turned on a row of piled amplifiers at the back of the stage and hurled a top one to the floor. Moon waded through his range of drums, spilling them across the stage and Daltrey took a last kick at his microphone. They all left to thunderous applause. It was, in my opinion, an extremely childish publicity stunt with potentially damaging effect on the thousands of youngsters who invariably follow their idols in all they do. Otherwise, they were musically immaculate, as always. Concerts tonight and tomorrow will go ahead as planned."